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Ripley Bennet has drilled her way into my bone marrow, infiltrated my blood cells and set up shop like a parasitic infection.
“For every mark you left on her skin, I’ll break one bone. Would you care to choose which?”
“Never mind,” I interrupt. “Wait!” “Too late. Dealer’s choice.”
I still want to own her. Break her. Shatter every last recognisable piece. But I also want to help her put those pieces together again. Her pain is no longer my obsession; instead, her will to survive against the odds is.
Needing to earn Ripley’s forgiveness is one thing—I can chalk it up to a guilty conscience—but this possessive need to protect her, to love and to hold her… That’s something I never anticipated.
“I think cheap whiskey breaks her cuss filter,” Raine mutters. “Did she ever have one?” “Fair point.” “I can hear you both!” she bellows. “Fucking assholes.”
Not all of us are lucky enough to have biological family left. But the connections we create can be stronger than shared DNA.
“Because I don’t have an image of your looks, and I don’t need it. I’ll never need it.” “I’m not sure I follow—” “Just listen,” he interrupts I seal my lips, waiting for him to explain. “I know your soul, Rip. I know your voice. Your scent. Your breathing patterns. Your intonations. I have the incredible privilege of seeing intimate, invisible, even unconscious details about you. I’ll never have to share that privilege.”
“That’s why I don’t care how Xander obsesses over you,” he continues. “Or how Lennox can’t even comprehend the depths of his feelings because they’re so overwhelming. I don’t care if my brothers love you too because what we have will always be unique.”
“They can own their individual pieces of your heart, but what we have is just ours. And that’s enough for me.”
“I love you so fucking much, I’m willing to give you this because I know you need them too. And hell, they need you. We all do.”
“It’s killing me,” she whispers. “I want to live, but I can’t until I face the past.”
“One day, you’ll stop being the obsessive psychopath with no boundaries who made me fall in love with him.” “Is that really what you want?” Peering up at me beneath her lashes, a small smile curves Ripley’s lips. “I wouldn’t still be here cleaning up your messes if I did.”
“You’re so fucking perfect.”
“You take me so well,” he grunts in exertion. “So damn well. It’s like you were made for me.”
🥵
“You know, Xander warned me you’re a little brat. I may have begged, but now, you’re going to come when I say so.”
“I want something from you.”
“A-Anything,” I whimper.
“I told you how I feel, Rip.”
finish. “Now I want to hear it from you.”
I’m a selfish bastard. I need proof that you’ve forgiven me.”
“You’re a sadistic motherfucker.”
But I do… I do love you. God, I fucking love you.”
“You insane asshole! I am in love with you!”
“I heard you, Nox. Just say it again.” His mouth crooks in a tired smile. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply simply. “You meant it?” His smile is wide. “Not just a mid-sex confession?” “I mean, you did torture it out of me. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
I’ve come to realise it’s a misconception that bad people don’t feel pain or regret. Oftentimes, those who’ve been forced to make the most awful decisions do so from a place of immense pain. Lennox is no different. All his choices, even the most morally questionable ones, have come from such deep-rooted trauma, it’s a wonder he’s alive at all. His fierce protective instincts have led him to many dark places.
“It’s okay to rely on others too, you know. I get that you want to protect us all, but we care about you. And you can lean on us when the burden gets too heavy as well.”
For many, we were the villains. But we fucking deserve this happy ending.
